As discussed in another article in this issue, Microsoft (News - Alert) Lync has been renamed to Skype for Business. And Skype for Business brings together the familiar look and feel of Skype, and the enterprise features of Lync. With this offering, Microsoft is offering via a single interface a cornucopia of communications modalities, including chat, meetings, video, voice, and more. Given the fact that Microsoft essentially owns the desktop, that’s a pretty powerful business solution.

That said, INTERNET TELEPHONY and its parent company, TMC, has an awards program centered around Skype for Business. Here is the list of winners and what each brings to the table.

Alteva

Voice Enabled Lync

Alteva’s Hosted Microsoft Lync 2010 delivers a fresh, intuitive user experience that brings together the different ways people communicate in a single interface. This unified experience facilitates rapid user adoption, while the ability to support a full range of communications from a single platform reduces both capital and operational costs. In September Momentum (News - Alert) Telecom Inc. announced plans to acquire Alteva for $28.7 million.

AudioCodes Inc.

One Box 365

AudioCodes One Box 365 is a hybrid solution, providing all the critical hardware, software, and services required for a successful Lync voice implementation. The appliance combines multiple Lync server roles including reverse proxy, gateway, and SBC functionality into a single, elegant unit. With dedicated elements such as Active Directory and Office 365 Connectors, and a simplified user interface for configuration and management of the Lync deployment, AudioCodes One Box 365 accelerates  installation, quickly enabling enterprise voice features for Office 365 subscribers. When combined with the AudioCodes Lync qualified IP phones, customers can enjoy a one-stop shop solution.

Call Cabinet Corp.

Atmos S4B

This cloud-based, multitenant and compliant call recording solution for Microsoft Lync and Skype for business starts at $99 per month with unlimited users. It supports Lync 2010 and 2013, as well as Skype for Business. It encrypts all calls, is fully redundant, and can scale. It is powered by Microsoft Qualified AudioCodes technology, built on Microsoft Azure, and based on a web-based/HTML5 architecture.

CallTower (News - Alert)

Skype for Business Voice

With Microsoft integrating Lync with Skype for Businesses and CallTower providing voice enabled (phone system replacement) Skype for Business, businesses can manage universal communication with constituents with mobile integrations, conference capability, videoconferencing, and work collaboration. Users gain access to a full range of telephony features without having to leave the Skype environment. Skype for Business supports both small business and large enterprise needs, and without the need to integrate third-party components, thus avoiding costly upfront infrastructure, setup complexity, and increased support costs.

ISI Telemanagement Solutions Inc.

Collaboration Reporting & Recording

Collaboration Recording takes an innovative approach to call recording and quality management by offering more features, better technology, and a lower price point. This comes with the ability to record all media in a single, unified system that is user friendly and accessible from anywhere. Capturing voice, video, instant messages, and telepresence calls is useful for contact centers, energy and utility companies, financial services providers, government agencies, health care organizations, law firms, market research companies, media organizations, security providers, and small businesses.

MTS

TEM Suite

This telecommunications expense management solution does procurement management, so every order is authorized, properly configured, placed on the appropriate rate plan, and reported to the appropriate party; asset management, to help manage data, video, voice, and wireless communications by creating and maintaining accurate inventory; invoice management, which can reduce billing errors and thus lower costs; dispute management and recovery, which tracks the full lifecycles of disputes; wireless expense management; and call accounting.

Nectar (News - Alert) Services Corp.

UCMP for Skype for Business

With Nectar UCMP, enterprise customers and their service providers can proactively monitor, manage, and measure the health and performance of their entire Microsoft Skype for Business ecosystem. Regardless of other vendor or technology platforms that may be operating within the same network environment, the UCMP solution can provide seamless insight, metrics, and root-cause analysis of issues that may affect user quality and the overall Skype for Business experience.

Numonix

RECITE 3.0 for Skype for Business

RECITE 3.0 helps companies boost their success and meet regulatory compliance by capturing content from multiple media modalities, including voice, video, screen, and chat/IM. The interaction recordings can provide unique insights into employee-customer interactions, empowering companies to understand what really works to improve sales and customer service.

Polycom

VVX Business Media Phones, Office 365 Cloud PBX Integration

Polycom in December announced that its voice desktop and conferencing portfolios will be the first to support and interoperate with the Microsoft Office 365 Cloud PBX services. Organizations migrating to Office 365 will be searching for voice solutions that meet or exceed those they currently experience on traditional PBX lines, according to Polycom, and it says the Polycom solutions portfolio uniquely addresses the needs of new Office 365 Cloud PBX service customers with rich collaboration features that work both on the desktop and in the conference room.

Sensiple

Skype Adapter

This adapter has changed the way support is provided, by integrating Skype for Business with IT Service Desk. That allows organizations to streamline reactive support, and enable proactive and predictive support. Sensible Skype Adapter is designed for businesses that would like to extend the richness and quality of Microsoft Skype for Business to deliver a customer-centric workforce optimization solution. It handles intelligent routing, streamlined customer management, and unified reporting across all channels like chat, call and voice.

Sonus

Session Border Controller Portfolio

Sonus offers an array of SBCs as well as Sonus IQ for Skype for Business, which enables secure and intelligent migration from Office 365 and Lync on-premises to Skype for Business Enterprise Voice. Sonus IQ is comprised of Sonus appliance-based and virtualized SBCs, and policy and management servers. It assures voice quality by prioritizing Skype for Business voice and video session packets.

The Via Group Inc.

Cloud Lync Enterprise – Skype for Business

The Via Group offers professional services related to Skype for Business. Those services can help businesses ensure their unified communications deployments yield the most value, are correctly installed, and integrated.

Unify Square

Unify Square PowerProv

The day-to-day tasks associated with maintaining Skype for Business across the enterprise have the potential to dramatically increase the number of support tickets IT teams need to manage. With PowerProv they can resolve the day-to-day administrative tasks for hundreds of thousands of Enterprise Voice-enabled accounts from a single Helpdesk interface. PowerProv makes it easy to manage policy compliance globally and maintain audit logs, reducing the risk of manual errors, and improving phone number purchasing power. By eliminating upwards of 9 percent of support tickets, PowerProv saves significant time and money.

Yeaklink (Xiamen) Network Technology Co. Ltd.

SIP-T48G

The SIP-T48G is an IP phone designed for both local and international use. It incorporates a large touch panel that makes switching between different screens and applications swift, easy, and convenient. Yealink’s (News - Alert) Optima HD technology creates the impression that users are sitting face-to-face opposite the person at the other end of the call. The T48G facilitates rapid call handling and allows for the application of accessories such as a Bluetooth USB Dongle, plus wired and wireless headsets.